But he was allowed to keep his $113,000-a-year job and his detective rank, and only lost 20 vacation days. He was transferred to patrol in Brooklyn's 67th Precinct, where he has worked for the past four years.

The Queens DA's office is also reviewing the case. City Councilmembers have called for a look at the broader implications.

The commissioner said it is unlikely Rice would have remained a cop had the misconduct happened under his watch. It predated his ascension to police commissioner in 2016.

Detective Thomas Rice (pictured) was caught making up witness names and addresses in official reports. (Marcus Santos/New York Daily News)

"If this was a case that was presented to me there's a good chance Mr. Rice…would not be a police officer any more, would not be a member of the service," O'Neill said.

Mayor de Blasio, similarly, said, "If such a thing were to happen under our watch the consequences would be very, very serious. I find it hard to understand how there wasn't a more serious consequence for these kinds of actions."

One of the troubling elements of the case was that there was no formal meeting with Queens prosecutors at the time to determine whether the case should be the subject of a criminal investigation.

There's no formal procedure in the NYPD Patrol Guide laying out what cops need to do in discussing misconduct cases with prosecutors.

Asked about this, O'Neill said, "That was a great concern to me."

O'Neill has also asked the Department Advocate's office to look at the handling of the disciplinary case.

Meanwhile, detective squad commanders across the city have begun looking at their own detectives' work with heavier scrutiny, sources said.

Front page of the New York Daily News for Jan. 28, 2018. (New York Daily News)

One source said detectives have been told to "dot every i and cross every t," and that "at least in the short term" there will be more scrutiny on their investigations.

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Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said he understood the concern the case has generated, but underscored there are safeguards in place to stop it from happening again.

"Each detective and each supervisor, just as importantly, has to know exactly what's expected of them and to understand that investigative steps can't be skirted, which is what happened here — doubly so when Mr. Rice then covered it up with nonsense, with false information," he said.